


Dance Yrslf Clean

by jongleur



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Uni AU, new year's fic, ridiculous fic sososo ridiculous, the title is not a typo!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3076127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jongleur/pseuds/jongleur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the new year’s fic in which louis likes harry, niall likes zayn, but they end up kissing each other at midnight instead.</p><p>new year’s resolution: get their boys back (even if they never had them in the first place).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance Yrslf Clean

**Author's Note:**

> wow. i've realized i havent written anything in almost a year. yikes. to anyone who follows my fics: i'm so sorry, i guess personal (uni) life has gotten in the way but believe me i haven't stopped writing so expect some fics very soon, i have one up for the valentine's fic exchange so that'll be good!
> 
> also, happy new year everyone! 2015 will be our year :)
> 
> now, go ahead and read this ridiculous new year's fic.

Louis spots Harry instantly.

The dorm’s hallway is full of boys, either horsing around or with suitcases in tow. It is not common knowledge, but university boys are no less stinky nor less rowdy than sixth form boys, that’s why Louis can easily find the elegant rose smell of one Harry Styles amongst all the sweat and stink. It might also be that Louis has developed the ability to _sense_ whenever Harry Styles is near.

“Hey, Harry! Wait up!” Louis yells from the opposite end of the hallway, his voice loud enough that Harry turns around, a smile of amusement on his face. He quickly runs towards the other boy, pushing and avoiding other students at a rapid speed.

Harry, in all his curly headed glory, replies with a grin on his face as Louis arrives, surreptitiously hiding the fact he’s running a bit out of breath, “Hey there, Tommo.”

Louis wraps a single arm around the taller Harry, “Hey, there mate. How’re you?”

He notices Harry eye their one-armed-bro-hug with a badly hidden smile before answering, “Good, I guess, I mean, I really enjoyed my time at home. Even if it was only for a week, nice to see the family and all that.”

Louis thinks fondly back to the week and half-a-day he spent with his mum and sisters back at Doncaster celebrating Christmas. He wishes he could’ve stayed a couple more days, but he’s here in uni back again, just in time to celebrate New Year’s. And, well, looking at Harry and his red-bitten lips he really doesn’t feel _too_ bad. “Yup, same here.”

It gets a little awkward, just like it always does whenever he stares at Harry as if he were a painting at the Louvre, however, Harry doesn’t seem to mind, only blushes a pretty pink before coughing, breaking Louis out of his reverie.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Louis continues, “Are you going to Nick’s New Year’s Party tomorrow?”

“Yeah, of course. Are you?” he asks Louis, voice slow, as always.

“Well, only if you go.” He flirts, brushing his soft fringe to the side.

Harry pats him on back, hand staying a tad more than necessary, “I guess I’ll see you there, Louis.”

Louis waves at him as Harry slowly makes his way out of the hall. He probably looks like an idiot, he knows, but it’s no secret (probably not even to Harry) that Louis has a giant crush on Harry.

He slowly heads back to his own dorm. He opens the door and realizes with a half grimace-half splutter that his dorm mate, Liam, is back at it again.

“You know, yoga is really fucking weird.” he walks around his friend, who has his butt in the air and is breathing in sets of three. “It sounds like you’re giving birth.”

“It’s _not_. It helps with flexibility and stress.” Liam manages to say from his upside down position, his face is red and his eyes are bulging, and Louis doesn’t think Liam is doing this correctly at all. “Besides, _Harry_ does yoga. I saw him on one of my Saturday classes.”

Louis turns around in a second and raises an eyebrow, “Flexibility you say?”

Liam huffs out a quick laugh before falling to the floor. “So, is he going to the party tomorrow?”

Louis nods as he grabs a bottle of water from their small mini fridge, a gift from Liam’s parents.

“What’s your plan then? Wait, do you even have one? Let me tell you, Louis, plans are of extreme—”

“Yes, Liam, I do in fact have a _plan_. This is going to be perfect, I tell you.” He interrupts his mother hen of a friend before settling on the couch next to him.

“What is it then? Please don’t get him drunk.” Liam takes the water bottle from Louis and chugs it down in a gulp.

Louis rolls his eyes, but replies, “ _Midnight_.” His friend scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, so Louis continues, “A midnight kiss. That’s perfect. Look, if Harry is really into me, he’ll kiss me back. If not, well, I can just say it was for good luck or blame it on the alcohol, whatever.”

Liam sighs, “Ok, first of all, don’t say whatever, I know this is important to you. Second of all, I really don’t want to boost your ego more than it already is, but, mate, Harry is really into you too. Everyone within a ten foot radio can see, it’s disgusting.”

Louis tries to hide a giddy smile from his face, but of course, fails, “Alright, alright, we’ll see tomorrow, Payno.”

Liam pats Louis’ thigh as he stands up, “You’ll see. Anyway, I’ll be heading to the communal bathrooms, I’m sweatier than a pig.”

“How can you sweat from _yoga_?

Liam flips him the bird, grabs a towel and swiftly leaves to take a shower.

When he gets there, he’s not surprised the bathrooms are empty; it’s not as if all the boys are back from their holidays, a lot of them are still at home with only a couple of them being back for the New Year. Either way, Liam’s pretty sure no one takes showers at 4:00 in the afternoon.

He hears the sound of light shower water coming from the back of the bathroom, and, as if to prove him wrong, he spots a familiar dark silhouette standing under one of the many showers.

 “Zayn!”Liam calls out, heading towards his friend.

Zayn turns around, alert, but then spots Liam and gives him a small wave and drawls out, “Hey, Liam.”

“I didn’t expect anyone to be here at this hour,” Liam explains, “Can I take the shower next to you?”

 “Sure.” Zayn shrugs, “I always try to shower in the afternoon, to not catch rush hour, I suppose.”

Liam nods sagely as he shampoos his hair, “Ready for next year?”

Zayn hums, non-committal, “I just wanna finish school, to be honest.”

Liam laughs, “Yeah, guess so too. Still excited for tomorrow’s party either way, you coming?”

“Might, might not. I’m not much of a partier.Someone wants me to go though.”

“Ooh, a _special someone_?” Liam teases.

“Shut up, Liam.” Zayn says, but flushes red and hides his head under the splash of water.

“Well, you should come.Me and Louis are going.”

That’s when Zayn looks up with a smirk, “Heard Louis’ planning to kiss someone tomorrow?”

Liam replies, “How does word travel _so fast_ , seriously, this is worse than when we were kids, this is supposed to be university! How’d you know?”

“Heard from Grimshaw who was told by Greg who was told by Cher who was told by someone I don’t know.”

Liam splutters, “ _Incredible_.”

Zayn laughs, “Ok, but tell me, is he going to kiss Harry Styles?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” he winks, “ _But_ , I’ll tell you this, it’s going to be a midnight kiss. Cheesy, I know.”

“ _It’s not cheesy_ …well, yeah, kind of, but, it’s romantic.” Zayn smiles.

It’s Liam’s turn to laugh, “Whoa, is Mr. Zayn Malik a closet romantic, _is that it?_ ”

“Fuck off. I’d really like it if someone did it for me, s’all.”

“Who would’ve known?” Liam says as he turns his water off, Zayn soon follows him and both head out to the dressing room, drying themselves off.

As they head out, neither of them notice a skinny blond boy standing in front of the mirrors, seemingly washing his hands.

He quirks an eyebrow, “A romantic midnight kiss, huh?”

-

So, Niall’s been looking for Zayn for almost an hour now. It’s not as if Nick’s house is particularly big, so either Zayn is avoiding him, or he didn’t come at all. It’s already half till midnight and Niall is giving up.

Thing is, he was almost sure Zayn liked him back and that he was going to be at the party; Niall had planned it all, a new year’s kiss and then he’d ask him to go out with him on a date. Something along those lines.

But, had he’d been wrong the entire time? Had he’d been reading the signals wrong? Zayn was the introverted kind, he sure as hell didn’t bat his (awfully long) lashes at him or twirled his hair whenever they talked, but he saw the tiny smiles and blushes whenever Niall complimented him. He also

He walks towards the kitchen, where the alcohol bottles are kept. He grabs the tequila bottle.

“Trying to get drunk, Horan?” he hears a woman’s voice behind him. He turns around, it’s Cher Lloyd from his English Lit class.

“Hopefully.” He laughs.

“Well, don’t get too drunk. Nobody’s going to wanna kiss you if you’re plastered.” she replies with a smile making her way to the ice cubes.

He grumbles, “I don’t want to kiss anyone here.” He only wants Zayn and pretty, pretty lips.

Cher rolls her eyes, “Is just for good luck, don’t get pissy. Anyway, just make sure you can still walk by the end of the party.”

As soon as Cher leaves, Niall huffs off a sigh. He might as well enjoy the party, he shrugs and takes another shot.

On the other side of the house, where the music is louder, and the people are drunker, a tiny, swaying Louis makes his way to Liam Payne, who is trying to dance but looks more like a newborn penguin. Louis wants to laugh at him, but refrains; he’s seen Liam dance when he’s drunk and it’s all crotch grabs and hip rolls that would put a stripper to shame.

He rests his body on the bigger Liam, just the tiniest bit tipsy, “Liam, did you look at Harry? He looked _so_ good in those jeans. And that shirt. Wow, I really want to sleep with him.” He stares dreamily at the other side of the room, where Harry is playing some sort of alcohol game with his friend, Ed. He adds. “And boyfriend. I also want him to be my boyfriend.”

Liam pats his smaller friend’s head, “Have you talked to him?”

“Yes. Well, I _waved_ at him. And he waved back with the cutest of smiles. But the plan is still on course, don’t worry, Li.”

“Ok, repeat your plan.”

“Step one, go talk to him five minutes before the clock strikes 12. That way it won’t seem suspicious.”

Liam doesn’t mention that their whole year probably already knows, including Harry.

“Step two, walk him to a secluded space, preferably to the terrace. That way it’ll be romantic and no one will try to kiss him too.”

Liam hums in agreement.

“And finally, step three, act surprised that the countdown is starting, then kiss him. It’s great, isn’t it?”

Liam rolls his eyes fondly, “It could be better. Like, you know, just tell him how you feel and ask him on a date.”

Louis waves his hand dismissively, “God, Li, it’s almost like you’ve never seen a movie. That’s not how it happens. If I want a relationship to last, I need to pull something out of Hollywood. Harry deserves something out of a ridiculous romantic movie.”

“Wow, ok, you’re the expert Louis.” Liam sighs.

They stay quiet for a couple of minutes, sipping their cold beer and watching the rest of the people make a fool out of themselves. Liam also catches Harry glance their way a couple of times, but he thinks Louis doesn’t notice. It’s when Aiden Grimshaw comes and talks to them that everything goes shit.

“Hey, guys!” Aiden jumps next to Liam and drapes an arm around Louis, clearly sloshed.

“Hi there, Aid,” Louis says amicably, then smells his breath and laughs, “Fuck, mate, you’re drunk.”

Aiden hiccups before answering, “It’s a party. Of course I’m drunk. You are not?”

Liam and Louis shake their head, amused at their out-of-it friend.

“Just slightly. Enough to stand your horrible self, you reek.”

Aiden doesn’t seem to mind and takes another gulp from his giant cup.

Louis, once again, turns to look back at Harry, who is being hugged by a clingy Nick.

Aiden seems to notice this too and says, “They’re cute, aren’t they?”

Louis turns around, confused, “Huh?”

“Them. Nick and Harry. Heard they’re going to get together tonight.”

Louis raises his eyebrows, but Liam knows he’s trying to stop himself from frowning.

“What? Who told you?” Louis asks softly, pretending he’s not interested. Liam can only watch, horrified, as his friend’s thoughts all jumble up and fry his brain.

Aiden shrugs, “I don’t know, mate, everyone knows. Like, the other day Harry was talking about how he really likes him. A proper school girl with a crush, I tell you. A goner.”

Liam is panicking _, no, no, no_. It’s ten till midnight and he knows his friend, he knows Louis is believing every word that comes out of Aiden’s mouth, that with every word, Louis is pushing the dagger deeper and deeper onto his own heart.

“Louis, he’s drunk, don’t—” Liam starts but Louis has none of it.

“Save it, Li. Whatever.” He finishes his drink in one big gulps and walks away quickly.

Liam watches, mouth wide open, for only a mere second before following his friend. He can see the top of his soft quiff, but then—

“ _Umph_.” He crashes into another body, falling butt first on the floor.

“Liam! I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” He looks up and sees Zayn Malik offering a hand, apologetic smile on his face.

Liam takes his hand heaves himself upwards, dusting his pants off, “No worries, I was in a bit of a rush myself.”

“Erm, yeah, I was looking—have you, have you seen Niall?” Zayn looks around the room, not meeting Liam’s eye.

“Horan? No, no, sorry. He must be here somewhere, though, he never misses a party.”

Zayn nods with pursed lips.

“Actually, I was looking for Louis, c’mon, we can look for them together.” He grabs the other boy’s arm and both head to look for their friends.

-

Louis walks outside to Nick’ terrace. He takes out a cigarette to try and keep his body from freezing; the place is rather big, bigger than the living room at least, and, apart from the two blond girls making out on the far corner of the terrace, the place is deserted.

He inhales a puff of his cig and rests his elbows on the railing, looking at the view of Liverpool’s nighttime. He doesn’t care, really. It’s not as if Harry was his soulmate or anything, besides, he really should be focusing on _himself_ for a change, right?

“Tomlinson, fancy seeing you here.” He hears a loud slur walking behind him.

“Niall Horan.” Louis takes another drag of smoke. “Hey, pal.”

“Why so lonely? It’s New Year’s.” Niall walks next to him, shoulders touching and warming each other a fraction more.

Louis chuckles dryly, “Same for you.”

Niall scrunches his nose and takes the cigarette from Louis’ hands before taking a drag himself, “Eh, whatever, who needs _anyone_ , really.”

“Innit? Bloody hell, fuck everyone. Especially hipsters.”

“Especially hipsters!” Niall yells and raises his cup in the air, sloshing Louis in the process.

The two girls, startled, turn around and glare at them before walking inside, where everyone appears to be gathering for the countdown.

“You wanna go in?” Niall asks Louis, pointing to the gathering crowd.

 “I’m fine here,” Louis shrugs, but he really, really doesn’t want to see Harry and Nick kiss in front of him, no way, “Are _you_ going in?”

Niall shakes his head, drinks some more of whatever he’s having, and drops his cup out of the railing. He giggles. “Nah, I’ll stay with you.”

They hear the people inside start the countdown, “Well, there goes my New Year’s kiss.” Louis sighs.

“New Year’s kiss? For good luck?” Niall asks.

“Something like that.”

“I’ll kiss you, if you want.” The blond shrugs, remembering Cher’s words, _it’s just for good luck._ She also might’ve mentioned something about not getting plastered, but oh, well.

Louis look at him, stunned, he sees the other boy look down at his lips. And really, they could do so much worse, right? Louis was very pretty.

Louis shrugs, why not?

They listen as the countdown goes, 5, 4, 3, 2. They inch their faces together, breathy giggles in between. 1. They kiss.

And suddenly, amid they noise of the fireworks, everyone rushes outside, with woops and yelps, looking at the sky, hugging each other and celebrating, Louis and Niall in the middle of everything, lips together.

“ _Louis_.” The short boy hears a gasp and turns around quickly. It’s Liam, looking wide eyed at the two boys in front of him, a confused puppy look on his face. However, what catches his attention is the boy next to, him. Zayn, face stoic. But he’s not looking at Louis, instead, he stares at only Niall, who has sobered up and only whispers a soft, “Zayn.”

As soon as those words leave his mouth, Zayn turns around quickly and leaves a stunned Niall, who only stays there for one second before rushing off to catch Zayn. Louis turns around to face Liam, “What happened?”

“I have no idea.” Liam shakes his head, “But something tells me you two shouldn’t have kissed.”

“I didn’t—” Louis starts, but before he can continue, someone’s shoving him harshly from the back.

“The fuck, Tomlinson?!”

It’s Nick—the party’s host, and Harry’s alleged boyfriend, future boyfriend, whatever.

Liam gets in between them before Louis can retaliate, before it gets bigger. There’s already a few close curious onlookers and Liam is sure Louis won’t control himself if it’s Nick Grimshaw who’s starting the brawl.

“What do you want Nicholas?” Liam asks instead, stern and with a warning hand on Nick’s chest.

Nick, noticing the onlookers, steps closer and spits softer, “Your asshole of a friend.”

Louis glares and he, too, steps closer, “What’s your fucking problem?”

“You. Leading him on like that!”

Louis stutters for a second before replying, “Harry? Look, you idiot, I’m not trying to steal him from you if that’s what you think—”

“You piece of dense shit. What are you talking about? _Me and Harry_?” Nick continues.

Louis is getting angrier, he _didn’t_ really want to cause any trouble, “Yeah, I didn’t know you were dating, ok? I just got told by Aiden.”

Nick splutters, “Aiden? Aiden told you me and Harry were dating? _Are you serious_?”

“Mate, I’ll back off, just leave me alone.” Louis is tired, he just wants to go home and sleep this horrible night off. Maybe he’ll wake up tomorrow morning and discover this was just a stupid dream.

“Aiden Grimshaw was pissed off his head.” Nick continues angrily, but now with a hint of desperation in his voice. “We _aren’t_ dating. All Harry could talk about today was that you were going to kiss him tonight at midnight and oh, fucking surprise, he finds you sucking face with Niall Horan. He was proper embarrassed, he thought you were gonna kiss him tonight. Look, just back off Harry. He doesn’t deserve you playing with him.”

Louis sobers up in an instant, confused. And it’s—it’s true, everything Aiden had said was incongruent. Louis had been positive Harry liked him, they’ve been flirting back and forth all semester so it didn’t really make sense. And, oh, shit, he just fucked up, didn’t he?

“Liam.” He turns around to face his friend, who has been listening to everything with a sad look on his face, “Liam, let’s go to our dorm, I think I’m going to throw up.”

-

“New Year’s resolution.” Louis wakes up in a bolt, wide eyes looking at the ceiling.

 From his side of the room, Liam groans into his pillow.

-

Niall has been trying to get Zayn’s attention for the past half hour to no avail. He hadn’t seen much, or any, in fact, of Zayn the week after the party. He figured Zayn couldn’t hide forever, they would have to face each other during their shared class, American Literature. Or so he’d thought because Zayn has been downright ignoring him since he arrived; Niall has been loudly whispering at him, throwing small crumpled pieces of paper, passing little notes to him, but nope, Zayn has been paying attention to their professor and taking notes, which, ok, that’s what he’s _supposed_ to be doing, but Niall knows Zayn hates this class and he usually ignores the man up front in favor of taking a nap or drawing. So, yeah, he’s ignoring Niall.

“Psh, Zayn!” He tries again, whispering louder than usual.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Horan?” Professor Jones asks in that obnoxious American accent, and everyone turns to look at Niall. Everyone, except Zayn, of course, who keeps his head facing the front.

“I uh—no, just asking for a pencil. Sorry.” He shrugs. Jones gives him the stink eye before turning to the board and resuming his lesson. After that, Niall gives up on trying to get Zayn’s attention. He’ll try and catch up to him after class ends. He can’t avoid Niall forever.

As it turns out, Niall is starting to think Zayn will.

The dark haired boy had stayed behind after class to talk to Jones, and in a blink of an eye, he had scurried past Niall, Jones in tow.

Niall groans. He’ll do it during their free period, then.

Niall knows Zayn will also try to avoid him then, but Niall knows Zayn, and he also has a hunch on where he might find him.

He forgoes his lunch in order to look for Zayn. The first place he goes to look for is in the library, where he’s met up with him various times before. He’s not there. Niall doesn’t give up, however, he’s trying to stay positive. He then goes to the gardens, he knows Zayn loves to sleep there.

He starts looking for him there, looking for the figure of a sleeping boy. When he’s about to turn around, defeated for the day, he sees a slumped person on the very corner of the garden, near the rose bushes. He walks towards Zayn, and Niall can see he hasn’t seen him, too engrossed in his book. Niall stares and smiles indulgentlyfor a second before getting closer.

“Zayn.” He says softly, breaking Zayn out of his reverie.

Zayn looks up, startled. He bites his lower lip, and Niall stops breathing for a second. Wow, he is such an idiot, isn’t he? A grade A idiot.

Zayn hums in response, but looks down at his book once again.

Niall exhales loudly and sits down next to him. They stay there, silent, for a few minutes, the atmosphere tense.

“Zayn, c’mon talk to me, I know you’re really not reading that book. You haven’t changed the page since I arrived.”

Zayn tenses up for a moment, Niall thinks he’s going to leave, but he closes the book instead and looks at Niall, expectantly.

“Um,” Niall, starts, nervous, “Zayn, I didn’t—I’m sorry, I’ve been meaning to explain—”

“You shouldn’t apologize, Niall. It’s alright.”

Niall looks up, confused, “No, Zayn, I am sorry.”

“For what? We’re just _friends_.” With that, Zayn stands up, grabs his book, and starts walking away, “See you, later, Ni.”

Niall can feel—actually _feel_ — his heart break into tiny pieces.

-

“What do you want, Tomlinson?” Harry glares at the boy in question, walking briskly down the hallway, not slowing down for the other boy who is having trouble catching up to him.

“Uh, hi, Harry,” he pants, forcing his short legs to go faster than they can, “I just—you are carrying an awful lot of books, thought maybe you wanted some help?”

Harry looks down at him, “You seem to be having a hard time catching up to me, Idon’t think your small height can be of use here.”

Louis rolls his eyes, “I’m much stronger than I look. Could probably beat you in a fight.”

Harry nods in agreement, “Yeah, you’re right, could punch me right in the heart. Wait, what? _Who said that_? Anyway, if you’ll excuse me, I have classes. Bye, Tomlinson.” He walks even quicker, almost trotting, leaving an open mouthed Louis behind.

Louis sighs in frustration. It’s been a week of the same, Louis trying to apologize to Harry and Harry talking to him passive-aggressively before strutting off, obviously still mad at what happened during New Year’s party.

To be honest, he’s been running out of ideas, but he doesn’t want to resign to Harry thinking he’s an absolute douche. Harry is like the most perfect person for him, he is sure of it. If Louis is going to marry someone and have children with them, that someone is definitely Harry; he just can’t leave everything as shit as it is now, he can’t.

He groans, ever frustrated, before heading towards one of the university courtyards, where he and Liam always have lunch.

“You look like shit.” Is how Liam greets him, the sweetest friend.

“Bite me.” Louis says before slumping down next to Liam. “He sassed me out. Again.”

Liam shrugs taking a bite out of his ramen soup, courtesy of the cheap uni cafeteria, “Well, I didn’t expect that to change after he already did twice today.”

“I just don’t know what to do anymore. He won’t let me explain.”

“Explain what, really? Didn’t Grimshaw already tell him the whole story?”

“That he’s my soulmate and that he should forgive me because I’m a stupid, stupid man who won’t do the same stupid, stupid mistake again.”

“I think you’re just gonna scare him off with all that soulmate talk.”

“Harry is a big believer in fate and soulmates, _please_ , Liam.” Louis adds sadly, “Just like me.”

“Well, change up your plan then, mate. He won’t listen to you if you keep the same whiny-puppy thing for much longer.”

Louis splutters, “Whiny?! _Liam,_ you’re supposed to be supporting me, don’t be an ass.”

 _“_ It’s tough love.”Liam slurps his soup some more.

“Liam, Louis!” an exceptionally tall boy with soft features approaches them with a giant grin.

Louis waves at him, “Hey there, Greg.”

Greg sits down next to them, still scarily cheerful, “Just wanted to give these to you.” He hands out two flyers, “It’s this Friday night, at the uni pub, you know, down the street in front of Starbucks. Anyway, it’s karaoke night, organized by the radio club. Make sure you go, yeah?”

“Oh, sounds fun, we’ll see, Greg.” Liam smiles politely.

“Yeah, I don’t think—” Louis stops himself, “Wait, um, the Radio Club?”

Greg nods, a knowing glint in his eyes, “Oh yeah, the whole gang. Grimshaw, Finchy, me, Grimshaw Two, um, who else….oh! _Silly me_ , Styles, too. He’s particularly excited about this one.”

“You’re a serpent, Gregory.” Louis replies, eyes squinted.

“So, that’s a yes?”

-

It’s Friday night and usually, Niall would be out in a club dancing with Josh and Sandy, however, tonight is not a usual night: tonight Niall will go to the library and study with Zayn. The _whole five_ hours Zayn stays there studying. This is his last chance, Niall tells himself, if things don’t go back to normal with Zayn after this, he swears he’ll leave the other boy, if that’s what he really wants.

He fixes his hair one last time looking at the mirror before leaving. Hey, he still wants to look good in front of Zayn, after all, the other boy looks like a proper super model.

As soon as he walks out of the dorms, the air hits him coldly. He should’ve brought a sweater or something, but he doesn’t want to be late, so instead he rubs his arms and heads off to the library.

He inwardly celebrates as he arrives and the warmth of the library embraces him. He usually doesn’t spend too much time in here, but he’s got to say, it isn’t so bad.

He spots Zayn immediately, he’s one of four people there, really. Niall doesn’t know anyone at all who spends their Friday nights in the library. Somehow, that doesn’t seem so bad if Zayn’s the one doing it.

“Zayn,” he grins as he arrives to his table, “I made it!”

“You did.” Zayn raises an eyebrow, “Are you sure about this? There’s nothing fun about studying.”

Niall nods brightly, “Yeah, of course I’m sure! Besides, I really need the studying.”

Zayn shrugs and goes back to highlighting his notebook. Niall’s smile doesn’t falter.

-

“Why am I your friend, Louis? Seriously, explain to me.” Liam protests as both boys enter the small pub.

“You love me, of course.” Louis replies, heading straight to the bar, “And me being attractive is a definite plus.”

“Both of those things are debatable.” Liam rolls his eyes, and orders a drink. He can feel it’s going to be a long night.

Louis only manages a weak _tsk_ as he looks around the bar, there’s a few people already sitting around the small stage where he supposes the karaoke is going to be, but he doesn’t see any type of curls around. Greg had better not be lying.

He does find Nick however, who seems to spot him at the same time, but the taller man only rolls his eyes and keeps on talking to Rita, a friend of his.

More and more people file in, but there’s still no sight of Harry. Louis starts nervously eating the salted nuts in front of him.

“Relax, Lou, he’ll show up, he is organizing this, after all.” Liam pats him on the back consolingly.

“I guess.” Louis sighs, “Are you going to sing karaoke? I wanna sing karaoke, we should all sing karaoke.”

Liam laughs at his nervous friend, “Maybe. It’s sound like fun.”

When there’s a decent amount of people, maybe around 30 or 40 people, Greg, microphone in hand, walks up stage and announces, “Hello, everyone, goodnight! Just so you know, signups for the karaoke contest will be right here with the radio club staff for anyone who’s interested. A reminder: you don’t have to have a good voice, the winner will be selected by the audience, so good luck to anyone who dares enter the contest. We will start in 20 minutes.”

There’s a few yelps from the audience and a couple of people do stand up right away to sign up, Liam turns to Louis, “I didn’t know this was a contest?”

Louis smiles, “We should sign up, Payno! Especially you!”

Liam bites his lip for a moment, but agrees easily, “Alright, let’s do it.”

Louis takes the other boy’s arm and drags him along. As they get near the signup table, Louis can see who is sitting there taking names. Of bloody course. Somehow he hadn’t taken in into account that Harry would be here. Watching him sing. Maybe it’s not such a good idea, after all.

“Hm, I think I’ve changed my mind, Li.” Louis says trying to turn around. Liam can read his mind, though, and now he is the one dragging Louis to the table.

“Hey there, Harry.” Liam smiles as they arrive.

“Liam.” Harry gives him a sweet smile before glaring, “Tomlinson. Are you signing up?”

“Yes, please.”

“Alright, I just have to write your name here and you give me the name of the song you want to perform for the first round.”

“Bublé! Something Bublé! Um, _Haven’t Met You Yet_.”

“Nice,” Harry smiles, dimple on full force making Louis want to die a very slow and painful death, “Liam Payne, right?”

Liam nods and they both turn to look at Louis, who shivers under Harry’s green stare.

“Um, _Pour Some Sugar On Me_.” Louis manages to say, eyes looking everywhere but at Harry.

“ _DefLeppard_ ,” Harry writes down, a hint of approval on his voice, “Name?” He looks up at Louis, expectantly.

Louis rolls eyes. Wow, why is he even in love with this idiot, again? “ _Louis. Tomlinson_.”

Harry writes it down slowly, “Hm, how _exactly_ do you spell Louis?”

“Goddammit, Harold.” Louis says, exasperated, but can’t help but have the ghost of a smile, “I’m just gonna go and wait for my turn over there.”

“Can’t wait to see you perform, Lewis.”

-

“So, why _did_ you want to major in English?” Niall asks, hand under his chin, waiting for an answer expectantly.

Zayn sighs, never taking his eyes off his book, “We should be studying, Niall.”

Niall pouts, “I know, I know, I’m sorry. Just curious.” He turns back to his notebook, which isn’t helping much given that Niall doesn’t really _take_ notes, it looks more like a scrambling mess to him.

There’s a beat of silence and then, “I’ve always liked reading and writing. Might as well do something with my life that I like, you know? What about you?”

Niall, stunned by Zayn’s answering, fumbles with his words before replying, “Yeah, um, something like that too. I’ve always enjoyed writing, kinda weird because I’m not much of a reader, hence my grades.”

Zayn smiles softly before going back to his book.

“Who’s your favorite author?” Niall bursts brightly, already knowing the answer because Zayn had mentioned it in one of their earlier conversations. Still, he feels like Zayn might not hate him as much as he’d thought.

For a moment it looks as if Zayn’s about to tell him off again, but instead leaves his pen on the table and without pondering says, “J.K. Rowling. I know there are a lot of great classic authors, but…well, sue me for liking Harry Potter.”

“I confess I haven’t read the books, but I love the movies.” Niall laughs brightly.

Ms. Clarice, the librarian, shushes them up.

Niall, affronted, whispers, “There’s like _three_ people here, why is she shutting us up?”

Zayn grins, eyes squinted, and teeth showing, “Don’t worry, Helen is a doll.”

“You know the librarian by first name basis.” Niall deadpans, “How?”

“I spent a lot of time here.” Zayn shrugs in response.

“Yeah, I know, but like, every time I come here she literally seethes at me. She looks like one second away from spanking me.”

“Well, I wouldn’t trust you with my precious books either.” After a moment of thought, he adds, “Spanking, huh? Wouldn’t peg you for the type, Niall.”

So, Niall’s usually very crude himself, not much surprises him anymore, much less a fictional scenario where spanking’s involved but.

Zayn just made a sexual comment and the imagery is so realistic, oh god. He blushes. He blushes and tries to hide the fact by burying his face in his book.

Zayn must notice this because he bursts out laughing the next second.

“Well, she is a sexy woman.” Niall says from behind his book.

Zayn is now shaking from laughter, “She is!”

Helen Clarice is behind them in a second. “Mr. Malik, I’m gonna have to ask your friend to leave.”

Niall opens his mouth, “Me? Seriously, _me_? Not him? Not even a little?”

Zayn doesn’t stop laughing as he says, “I’m so sorry, Helen, we’ll be leaving. C’mon, Nialler.” They pack up their books, Niall still mockingly indignant, and leave.

“Where are we going?” Niall asks as soon as they step outside, air even colder than before.

Zayn shrugs, “Lead the way, Ni.”

-

“ _Oh, promise you, kid. To give so much more than I get_.”

All thirty people or so are standing in awe at Liam, who really, is easily the best singer in the competition. Louis look from beside the stage like a proud mother.

“ _I just haven’t you yet_.” The last chords of the song are played and everyone claps as soon as Liam is done. He graciously takes a boy with a giddy smile. So, Louis so happy for Liam and his almost perfect, 10/10 imitation of Michael Bublé, but fuck he’s next and that’s going to be a tough act to follow.

He walks upstage, already feeling his hands clammy, and takes a deep breath. Whatever, Tommo, this is just a stupid uni competition.

The music starts, the backing vocals and the heavy drums echo throughout the whole room. As soon as the music starts, a few people—including Nick Grimshaw, move their head to the beat approvingly, and Louis gains the confidence to start swaying his hips just like the music is begging him to.

“ _Love is like a bomb, baby, c’mon get it on. Livin’ like a lover with a radar phone.”_ He starts, his voice light and raspy, and dancing each second with more confidence than the next.

“ _Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love. Pour some sugar on me._ ” He catches Harry’s eyesight, who’s is leaning on the wall, his face expression pococurante, but his eyes have a glint and Louis loves it. He stares straight at Harry as he sings the next lines, “ _I’m hot, sticky sweet. From my head to my feet, yeah._ ” He even does a few hip rolls for good measure.

Louis doesn’t even feel like this is a competition anymore, he’s just enjoying himself, even more so when people start whistling and clapping to the music; he can still feel Harry’s burning eyes on him.

He does a few raunchy moves that the small crowd seems to love, and it’s all very silly, but Louis is definitely coming here more often.

“ _Oh, pour some sugar on me!”_ he finishes with a raspy yell and the whole crowd singing the chorus with him. Just as he’s finished people start whistling. He takes a dramatic bow and just before leaving the stage looks down at Harry with a smirk. Harry look awfully uncomfortable on those jeans.

However, Louis’ smugness lasts very little as soon as Greg steps on stage, his own mic in hand, “Wow, that was really intense, once again, give it for, Tommo!” there’s another round of applause and Liam laughs beside him, but Greg continues, “However, we still got more rock n’ roll coming! Let’s welcome the last contestant, our very own, Harry Styles!”

There’s loud yelps coming from the Radio Club table, and Harry takes the stage, face red, and grin wide. He waves at the crowd, this time his eyes don’t meet Louis’.

And then he starts singing. And of _bloody_ course, of _course_ Harry would pick that cliché song to sing in a karaoke.

“ _An older version of me, is she perverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theatre_?”

An angry Alanis Morissette song.

“ _Does she speak eloquently, and would she have your baby_?”

And thing is, the lyrics are obviously aimed at Louis, and Louis should feel awful and ashamed, but Harry…well, Harry’s having fun with it, he’s laughing and dancing on stage. He’s a charmer, that one, Louis thinks, and he just wants a second chance.

-

“And, so apparently, I was holding Theo wrong the whole time.” Niall finishes in exasperation, “Tell me, how was I supposed to know?”

Zayn is in stitches by the time Niall finishes his story, “ _How_ do you not know how to hold a baby. So you just had his head dangling the whole time?”

Niall sighs sadly, “Yes, poor boy, what an awful uncle I am.”

Zayn smiles fondly at his friend, “Well, if it makes you feel better, I thought airplanes made a loop-de-loop in the air. I waited the first twenty minutes for it the first time I got in one.”

“ _Loop-de-loop_ ,” Niall cackles, “Legend!”

They’ve been walking for an hour along the quiet Liverpool streets surrounding their university. It’s amazing, Niall thinks, being the boy he likes the most in the whole world, walking around aimlessly in an exciting city, and talking and laughing as if they’d known each other their whole life. It feels right.

The chilly air settles a bit and Zayn suggests they sit in the pavement in front of a convenience store. His bum is freezing as soon as he touches the floor, but Zayn’s warmth besides him makes up for it a thousand times. He feels the silence catch up to them, and soon, the memories of two weeks ago cross his mind. He traces a few doodles on the dirt with his finger, not knowing how to start. He doesn’t have to.

“I’m sorry, Niall.” Zayn starts.

Niall turns around, wide eyed. “What? What for?”

“For being such a stick in the mud, I guess. I mean, it _was_ just a New Year’s kiss, sorry for over reacting.” Zayn sighs.

Niall shakes his head as soon as Zayn’s words leave his mouth, “No, no, Zayn. No. I mean it _was_ just a New Year’s kiss, but you were right, I shouldn’t  have kissed him, I was just…god, I was just drunk and a bit angry at you.”

“Why?”

“I thought you weren’t coming. Like, I had planned this really cool speech and everything and then, like, I would kiss you, right? And you would tell me that you like me back. But you didn’t show up and I thought that maybe…maybe I had been wrong all the time,” he takes a gulp of air, “That you didn’t like me and it was all in my head, but…you _did_ show up, and I was a fool. I’m sorry Zayn.”

He looks at his scruffy tennis shoes, head hung low, “I’m sorry.” He says again.

Zayn grabs his right hand with his left one, they’re both terribly cold.

“It’s ok.”

Niall looks up to him, Zayn’s face is inches close to his. “I guess I should’ve been more vocal about it, too. But I thought I was pretty obvious, you know, lending you all my favorite copies of my comic book collection, and all that.”

“Obvious about what?”

Zayn smiles, “Me being extremely smitten over you.”

Zayn’s lips are on his. They’re in front of an old convenience store, it’s about 1 in the morning, and it’s unbearably cold, but Niall hasn’t felt warmer.

-

Louis doesn’t know how he ends up in the most bizarre of circumstances, but thing he is, he always ends up in one. So, there’s him, Liam, Harry and Rita as finalists in their stupid karaoke contest and Louis wonders if he’s life is, in fact, a sitcom.

He’s sitting on the first table, the nearest to the stage, next to Greg James as Rita is singing a heart-breaking song about loss and the like. Liam, as sweet as he was, told him he was going to beat his ass down, then promptly took the stage and did an impeccable Celine Dion rendition of _It’s all coming back to me now_. So much for best friends. Harry was next to the stage, ready to go on next, meaning Louis would be the last one.

Rita finishes and Greg, in all his contagious energy, presents Harry, once again, eliciting claps from the crowd. Hell, even Louis wants to Harry sing once again. His voice is captivating, and he’s trying to be as objectively as possible. He’s probably failing, what with having an awful crush on the boy, but no one needs to know.

Harry takes the stage, pigeon toed, and flushed and Louis’ heart swells twice its size.

Some ridiculous synthesizers start up the song, and _oh, Louis loves this song!_

“ _You were working as a waiter in a cocktail bar, when I met you._ ” Harry starts crooning into his microphone, hips swinging to the beat.

Louis can’t help but to tap his feet to the beat and hum the song under his breath. Harry turns to look at him, raising his eyebrows in defiance. “ _Don’t you want me baby? Don’t you want me, oh!”_

Oh, no, he’s not doing this. He’s not.

_Harry deserves something out of a ridiculous romantic movie._

Is he?

He stands up briskly, walking up to Greg and stealing his microphone just before Harry finishes the chorus. He’s Louis Tomlinson, master of grandeur.

“ _I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true.”_ Louis’ voice fills the room instead of Harry’s and everyone turns to look at him, even Harry is wide eyed and surprised, _“But even then I knew I’d find a much better place, either with or without you_.”

He gets on stage, pushing Harry dramatically out of the way with his hips, but a small smile.

Harry keeps singing, and wow, would you look at that? They sound really good together. The chorus comes on again and Harry tries to mock upstage him with some horrible hip moves. Louis starts laughing and he jumps on one of the empty tables, the crowd yelping. He even hears Liam scream in encouragement.

 _You’re stupid_ , Harry mouths at him during the music interlude, _you are too_ , Louis mouths back.

They finish the rest of their song almost yelling in ridiculous voices but they’re having fun and look, Harry is smiling at Louis again.

-

“ _So_ , that was stupid.” Louis drags Harry out in the cold air, right outside the pub.

“Neither of us won because of you.” Harry reproaches, but the lifting corners of his mouth give him away.

“Fucking Liam, we deserved it.” Louis shrugs.

“Well, I guess what counts is that we had fun.” Harry says, voice serious, and tight lips.

Louis deadpans, “You’re kidding, right?”

Harry bursts out laughing, “Fucking Liam.”

They quiet down their giggles, and then Louis sobers up. He crowds into Harry’s space, his back resting on the pub’s wall. “I just want you to know, Harry Styles,” he whispers, face close, closer, to Harry’s, who is looking at his lips, hypnotized, “That there is _no one_ who I like as much as I like you.”

“Not Niall?” Harry asks softly.

“Not Niall, not David Beckham, _no one_.”

“Wow, I beat Becks?”

“Every single time.” Louis says before surging and kissing Harry who kisses him back hungrily, “Fucking finally.”

“Better than a New Year’s kiss.”

-

The very next Monday, Louis is walking hand in hand with his new boyfriend, one Harry Styles. As he passes where the English classes are, he sees a blond boy, arms tightly around another tattooed boy.

He grins at Niall, who gives him a thumbs up. He looks back to see a smiling Harry.

Louis holds on tighter to Harry, _to new beginnings, Niall_. To new beginnings.

-

 

**Author's Note:**

> wow i can't believe i made harry and louis pull a troy/gabriella. sorry for this.
> 
> kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! thank you :)!


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